JANUARY
• It was standing room only in the Larch Hills chalet on Jan. 3 when the now-completed facility was officially opened to the public.
• Vienna Lisette Sunder was a little early, but right on time. Vienna’s mom, Raelynn, explained Vienna was due to be born on Sunday, Jan. 6. However, she decided instead to make an early – and speedy – appearance on Thursday, Jan. 3. That earned her the title of Salmon Arm’s New Year’s Baby.
• An accounting error in the city’s 2019 budget was good news for the residents and businesses of Salmon Arm. At its Jan. 14 meeting, Salmon Arm council learned that, subsequent to the budget receiving three readings on Jan. 7, the proposed municipal tax increase had since been reduced from 4.25 per cent to 3.3 per cent.
• The Salmon Arm Senior Golds basketball team began the new year with a win over West Kelowna’s Mount Boucherie on Jan. 8, winning 75-53 in league play.
• At the city’s development and planning meeting of Monday, Jan. 21, council received a staff report detailing a proposal for a B.C. government-run cannabis outlet, to be set up in a yet-to-be-constructed building near Dollarama on the SmartCentres site at the west end of town.
• Kenneth Robert Laforge, facing three charges in connection with a fire that damaged a 7-Eleven convenience store in Salmon Arm, was granted bail. Laforge was charged with mischief of $5,000 or under, arson in relation to inhabited property and arson damaging property. On Aug. 24, Laforge was arrested at the scene of the blaze where a vehicle had been driven into the downtown convenience store.
• A new downtown farmers’ market, co-ordinated by the Shuswap Food Action Society (SAFS), with support from Downtown Salmon Arm and city council, was proposed to start on June 22.
• An armed robbery occurred at Acorn Music in downtown Salmon Arm on Friday, Jan. 25.
• Salmon Arm Rona-Midget T3 Silverbacks earned top honours in the Windermere Valley Midget tourney in Invermere.
